Mourinho considering Drogba return

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has revealed that a possible return for Didier Drogba is in his thoughts.

Reports in recent days have linked the Ivory Coast striker, a free agent after leaving Galatasaray, with a return to Stamford Bridge.

And Mourinho has now broken his silence on the matter, telling several national newspapers: "We think about it.

"We want to win matches and win titles and Didier is one of the best strikers in Europe. He is still very adapted to the needs of the Premier League and we are thinking about it in a non-emotional way."

Drogba was named as Chelsea's greatest ever player in a poll of fans in 2012, having scored both the equaliser and the decisive shoot-out penalty as the Blues beat Bayern Munich in that year's Champions League final.

But Mourinho stressed: "If you bring him back it is not because he is Didier or scored the most important goal in the history of Chelsea, or because I read I need an assistant, no. If I bring him back, and the decision has to be made soon, it is because as a player he has qualities to make the team stronger.

"The team is not about the 11. It is about the different options and w ith Didier's profile, being a squad player I think he could be important for any team.

"And because we know his heart is pushing him to where he feels he belongs, we are thinking about the possibility. (Chelsea owner Roman) Abramovich is very intelligent and he feels that people belong to the club. We feel that Didier belongs to us.

"Is he coming back as a player one more year or a couple more years? Let's see."

Drogba would join a crop of strikers including new signing Diego Costa as well as Romelu Lukaku and Victor Moses, who both spent last season out on loan. Samuel Eto'o and Demba Ba have departed the club this summer.